DENVER—Gov. Bill Ritter has signed an election-reform bill designed to prevent fraud in the Colorado’s initiative petition process.
The bill signed Friday will require companies that hire people to circulate initiative petitions to be licensed in Colorado.
It also requires that circulators be trained so they can comply with petition laws.
The bill’s sponsor, House Speaker Terrance Carroll, says concerns were raised in recent elections about the use of paid petition circulators, some from out of state, who were accused of faking signatures and addresses.
“Paid petitioning is ripe for abuse, and we must stop that abuse,” Carroll said. “We have seen numerous examples of fraud, from underaged petitioners to fake addresses to misleading explanations. I am proud that we have found a bipartisan solution to restoring integrity to citizen petition efforts.”
Ritter also signed five other election-related bills on Friday. One allows county clerks to cancel uncontested primary elections if no write-in candidate has filed an intention to run; another allows counties to use any electronic voting device that was used in the 2008 general election; one exempts bona fide residents of group residential facilities from showing identification at the polling place; one gives voters more time to correct deficiencies in their mail-in ballots; and the other allows online voter registration.
Christine Watson, lobbyist for the League of Women Voters of Colorado, said the initiative bill also has an important provision that tells voters whether they are changing the state constitution, which is hard to fix, or just changing statutes, which can easily be changed if there are problems.
Carroll said concerns were raised in recent elections about the use of paid petition circulators, some from out of state, who could not be located to answer questions after the election.
Carroll displayed pictures of false addresses given by petition gatherers in past elections, including vacant lots and storefronts listed as home addresses.
In a blurry videotape shown to members of the House State Affairs Committee, a 14-year-old girl claimed she was told by her boss to lie about her age and was told to give false information to people who signed her petition for Amendment 49, a proposal on the November ballot last year that would have barred governments from deducting union dues from paychecks.
The amendment was defeated.
